Excerpt from a long thoughtful editorial in the Burlington Times News on

April 15, 2016:

“We still believe a reasonable solution can be found that doesn’t mean high school kids of the opposite sex are taking showers together after gym class. We also think it’s common sense to have separate men’s and women’s restrooms. That’s how we do it here at the Times-News with one addition, there is a unisex bathroom available for anyone who wishes to use it.

“We also know that as strange and wrong as it may seem to some folks, there are men who live their lives as women, and women who live their lives as men, often without any change in sex organs. We suspect people have often occupied the same public restroom with someone who is transgender and didn’t even know it.

“There are women who — by use of hormones and other techniques — look exactly like a man with a beard. Same for men who are transgender. Public showers makes things more complicated, but bathrooms usually have privacy stalls. We are still trying to figure out where these restrooms are where folks are identifying other people’s genitals. There already are laws in place on indecent exposure.

“The simple fact is, transgender people have always used the restroom of the gender they live as. HB2 took what effectively was a don’t-ask, don’t-tell policy and turned it on its head, requiring someone who has female sex organs but looks like an NFL linebacker to use a women’s restroom. And a man who looks like a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader is required to use the men’s room.”